The Elf

The Elves, or Etryan as they call themselves, are a deeply ritualistic and spiritual woodland folk. Quite possibly the oldest living race in this universe and beyond, the Elves have undergone eons of evolution to become the nature bound and simplistic race that it currently is. In their current age, the Elves are divided into two nations: the Do’Etryan (Dark Elves) and the Fal’Etryan (Wood Elves). With lithe and graceful bodies, the Elves are extremely agile, something that aids in their navigation and preservation of the forest realms. Their humble existence and symbiotic relationship with the wilderness is an extension of their devout faith to the spirits of nature who they call the Ryn’Etryas, the Eternal Rings. They often place the flora and fauna of their realms before themselves. They craft arcane-engineered dwellings and defenses that do little to no disruption of the natural environment. As scouts and rangers, they are superior survivalists. As tradesmen they are peerless woodworkers with their finest products employing rare materials imbued with forest mana. Most Elves prefer the company of each other within their isolated societies, but on Terminus, a great many of Elves have risen to adventure and explore the many wonders of the world of worlds.

Originating on the world of Mythantya, the Etryan race was long divided in two. One race thrived within forest kingdoms while a newer breed flourished within the subterranean “root realms.” With both depending on many of the same sources of life, war arose between the sibling races. This war was carried over to Terminus. Named for the one great tree that spawned the entire forest, above and below, the majestic Falmyrys was transported to Terminus bringing with it the Etryan race. The sibling races of the Do’Etryan and the Fal’Etryan fought for control of the land. Their conflict carried on and saw both armies scattered. Eyeing an opportunity, dragon forces from an infernal realm to the south began their invasion. Led by their scaled deity, Kaul’Odun, the dragonkin army began a destructive march into the heart of the forest, razing the woodlands around them. The Etryan were outmatched and divided. Defeat was imminent. In this, their darkest of hours, their gods finally appeared. Taking the form of the circle of nature each commanded the spirit deities came to the defense of the Falmyrys. Doing battle with the dragon god, the Ryn’Etryas repelled the invaders, forcing the invaders to flee, many leaping to their deaths off the endless cliffs that led to their fiery realm. With salvation delivered, the warring Etryan came to a truce and made a pact to defend the Falmyrys as one and share in its bounty. Coming together as wardens of the woodlands, the Etryan sequestered the Falmyrys, isolating their society from the rest of Terminus. Only after many ages did the Etryan finally form foreign alliances through need and shared trials. Recently they have come to open their doors to outsiders. Yet still, they control the flow in and out of their realm and watch from the trees and shadows of the Falmyrys.

@Jonathan please do a search for Tolkein names and review the names there, elves are derived from Old Norse mythology and dark elves are called Svartálfar for example. I'd MUCH rather have the names mentioned above than Old Norse names. Yggdrasil is similar to the tree above, but I like this oak better. The ying yang is a bit too real world for me, I get the symbolism, I appreciate the art very much.

The symbol is a yin and yang, representing in this case I imagine the dark and light elves, opposites but bound together by the world tree. The moon and the sun symbols also represent the dark and light nature of each. Very nicely done. I hope the dark elves have darker tendencies, dark magics and so on.

This is another great symbol from Daniel "Mac" MacGibbon. He has an EQ past and loves reading the feedback on his art. I could definitely see this one on a shirt, tattoo or even a stick to place proudly on your Hybrid vehicle. For me, I need a Dwarf symbol for my Canyonero.

Fantasy names will become more "real" once you attach the lore regarding the names to the names themselves, such as Teir'dal etc in EQ1. I love fantasy names, and I give props to the authors of such names, it adds so much more than, woodelf, high elf, dark elf and so on. But then again I guess we could always go with generic names like George, John, or Beetleguese :P ( I ..am ..kidding :D)

I like the fact your lore is really coming through with these updates. It makes me all warm inside that the work is really about bringing detail back to generic worlds of elves, orcs, and *shudder* pandas.

Guys, I'm in love with the game concept and the lore seems solid, but the names...something has to be done about these names. "Falmyrys"? "Ryn’Etryas"? These are terribly generic made-up fantasy words that really just read like gibberish.